The controversies of this period produced one of the classics of liberal thinking, Areopagitica (1644), a treatise by the poet and prose writer John Milton in which he advocated freedom of thought and expression. ... An influential early liberal was the English philosopher John Locke. ... Thomas Jefferson also echoed Locke in the Declaration of Independence and in later pronouncements defending revolutions, attacking paternalistic government, and upholding free expression of unpopular opinions. In France, Locke's philosophy was taken over by the leaders of the French Enlightenment, notab...

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• Grade Level: Graduate